Thursday, May 10, 2012

Olde Ottawa

Too many photos, too little time.

It's like the hangover after the party. I very much enjoy exploring with my camera while travelling, but the problem is dealing with the frames afterwards. There's downloading, editing and selecting, cataloguing with metadata and keywords, and of course fine tuning. Not able to leave well enough alone every image gets the personal touch.

And so I find myself scheduled to head back to our nation's capital next week and realize I have a batch of images circa my last trip there {cough - November 2011 - cough} that have been in purgatory. It seemed fitting that I finally get around to doing something about that as there were a few I quite liked.

And so we start the day with fairly crappy weather. Didn't much care as I knew I'd be spending it with my colleague in the hotel working over some stuff. Looked outside and grabbed my camera to capture this rather cold and dreary view of Parliament.

The remnants of that first snowfall (which in typical fashion occurred during the few days I happened to be in town) quickly started melting and provided some contrast against the concrete walkways and tunnels along Rideau Ave.

These stairs offer all sorts of shooting opportunities. No shortage of line and form and perspective. Parked myself down low to grab this, and then dragged the shutter to get some movement from passers by. One shot is just about the geometry of the stairs, the other catching the sense of movement of passers by. Still can't figure out which one I prefer.

A little further along and there's yet some more stairs. Too much of a good thing, perhaps? These make their way down to the Rideau Canal, with an abstract archway thrown in for good measure. Always enjoy shooting detail that most simply ignore.

While I've been to Ottawa before I've actually never gone down to the canal, famous for being the world's longest skating rink (although many in Winnipeg would debate that as we - I say "we" as if I had anything to do with it - actually beat them a couple years back but with much controversy). And just popping over to Wikipedia I just learned that the Rideau Canal is also the "oldest continuously operated canal system in North America."

There's much to see along the canal and makes for a nice walk. There's very cool architecture and stonework...

...and of course docks aplenty leading into the canal...

The actual canal mechanisms - I'm guessing lock gates - are heavily weathered and make for great texture and monochrome fodder...

So lots of cold concrete. But there's warmth to be had as well. The leaves had fallen as this was late autumn, but were still loaded with color and contrasted against the stripped trees.

And despite all the rock and stone along the canal there were still plants trying to make a go of it...

As was this runner, getting some fresh air along the walls of the Chateau Laurier Hotel...

All in all it was a nice way to unwind at the end of the day and get some air. Eventually made my way to the airport for the evening flight home. Comfortably checked into the lounge and waiting for my flight, with a beverage in hand if I recall, I noticed this great sunset lighting up the sky. Too bad my fellow traveller was engrossed with her e-mail. Missed a beautiful show.